Device for handling aircraft



June 18, 1940. I R. H. FLEET ET AL 2,204,546

DEVICE FOR HANDLING AIRCRAFT Driginal Filed Oct. 14, 1936 Patented June 18, 1940 assists PATENT orrice 2,204,546 DEVICE roa HANDLING A aoaAFtr Reuben H. Fleet, William B. Wheatley, and Isaac M. Laddon, San DiegmGalif.

Original application October 14, 1936,8erial No. 105,611. Divided and this application June 22, 1937, Serial No. 149,781

7 Claims. (o1. 244-453) Our invention relates to airplanes, and more particularly to means for launching airplanes.

This application is a division of our joint application Serial No. 105,611, filed October 14, 1936.

In our application above referred to the ad.-

vantages and necessities for a system permitting airplanes to be launched with larger loads than is at present possible were pointed out. This application being a division of that application, the lengthy d scussion of the various factors considered in that application are not repeated herein.

An object of the invention is to provide proper bracing and support constructions in connection with the cradle for launching heavy landplanes with retractible chassis.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cradle for landplanes of the usual type in which the wheels are not retracted andin which the front wheel chock will be automatically taken out of the way just before the plane takes'oif from the cradle.

With these and other objects in View, which may be incident to our. improvements, the invention consists 'in the parts and combinations to be hereinafter set forth and claimed, with the understanding that the several necessary elements comprising our invention may be varied in construction, proportions and arrangements,

Without departing from the spiritand scope of the appended claims. l i

In order to make our invention more clearly understood, we have shown in the accompanying drawing means for carrying the same into practical effect without limiting the improvements in their useful applications to the particular constructions which, for the purpose of explanation,

, have been made the subjectof illustration.

. In the drawing: 1

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a landplane with retractible chassis mounted on a special type cradle;

Fig. 2 is a view in front elevation of the device Fig. 6 is a detail view taken along the line 66 s of Figure 5, looking in the direction of the arrows.

. Referring to the drawing, in Figures 1 and 2, we have shown a construction of cradle which. is

vent rollingof. the landplane 83 during its the body H3401 the cradle I00.

particularly adapted for use with landplaneshavingretr'actible chassis. In such type of construction the bottom of the landplane is in general supports 3!. .The outrigger arms may be joined to the side of the cradle and in general we employ a construction embodying three arms 80, asindicated in Figure 1. 8| may'fit under the wings 82 of a landplane 83. This construction provides lateral support to pretransport upon the cradle 4.

In order to support the airplane to give it longitudinalstability, we have shown the cradle 4 The end supports provided with a downward bracing member 84 to which is attached an arm 85. To the upper part of the cradle 4 is attached an arm 86. The

arms 85 and 86 are joined by a strengthening general will be positioned so as to support the tail skid wheel 39 which is shown in Figure 1 as partly retracted. Thus longitudinal stability of the plane 83 is achieved as well as the lateral stability.

In Figures 3 to 6 inclusive we have shown another type of construction for a landplane having a non-retractible chassis. Here the problem of preventing the rolling of the landplane off the cradle is important. We have shown pivoted at 3 on the supports IS a cradle H10 which is provided with a tail HM having side braces N32. The side braces I112 lie on either side of the tail skid wheel Hi3 and prevent its movement laterally. The cradle is provided on its main supporting surface Hit With rear chocks H35 which are adapted to lie in rear of the wheels 106 of a landplane lfll. In front of the wheels I06 are movable chocksi I08.

The movable chocks I08 are pivoted at I I19 in Apertures are provided at H0 in the main body HM of the cradle H313 and supporting lips Ml at the front of the apertures H!) are adapted to support the upper surface H2 of each chock Hi8. 1

Each chock N18 is provided with a round camlike element i l3 which is joined to the upper surface I l2. In addition to the supporting lip HI at the front of the aperture H0 there are provided supporting lips H l formed from the upper surface Hl of the car 4.

Side. braces H5 are provided between the chocks I05 and the movable chocks I08 to prevent the wheels H36 from sliding laterally,

When the front chocks I08 are in their raised position, indicated in dotted lines in Figure 5 and in solid lines in Figure 3, the wheels I06 cannot roll forward. In such position the cam-like members i l3 have fiat surfaces I I6 which rest on the upper surface IU of the car 4.

When the landplane I01 has its control surfaces manipulated to change it from a no-lift attitude, such as is shown in Figure 3, the front chocks I08 fall by gravity into the position shown by solid lines in Figure 5 and permit the: wheels W5 to roll off the car 4 and the airplane I01 to take to the air.

It is to be understood that in all of the types of cradles in the drawing the airplane is adapted to start off in a no-lift attitude and that it is changed from the no-lift attitude by manipulation of the control surfaces of the plane only when sufficient speed has been picked up to permit the airplane to fly off the cradles.- All this is explained in our co-pending application previously referred to.

While we have shown and described the preferred embodiment of our invention, we wish it to be understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details of construction herein set forth by way of illustration, as it is apparent that many changes and variations may be made therein, by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention, or exceeding the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A support for launching an airplane comprising a movable member, a rapidly tiltable cradle on the movable member upon which the airplane is adapted to rest, a pivot for the cradle having its axis laterally disposed on the movable member, and rigid outrigger members adapted to be attached to the wings and extending to the side of the cradle and adapted to steady the airplane laterally by passing upward against the airplane wings.

2. A support for launching an airplane from rail tracks, comprising a vehicle, wheels for the vehicle adapted to run on the rails, a rapidly tiltable cradle on the vehicle upon which the airplane is adapted to rest, a pivot for the cradle having its axis laterally disposed on the vehicle, and rigid outrigger members adapted to-be attached to the wings and extending to the side of the cradle and adapted to steady the airplane laterally by pushing upward against the airplane wings. v

3. In a launching device for airplanes with wheels, a movable member, a cradle pivoted to said movable member, a front chock member for the wheels pivoted to the cradle, a rear chock member affixed to the cradle, a portion of said front chock member being adapted to contact the upper surface of the movable member when the plane and cradle are in a no-lift attitude and said chock member being adapted to fall by gravity upon movement of the plane and cradle into the lift attitude.

, said movablemember, a front chock member for 4. In a launching device for airplanes with wheels, a movable member, a cradle pivoted to said movable member, a front chock member for the wheels pivoted to the cradle, a rear chock member affixed to the cradle, a portion of said front chock member being adapted to contact the upper surface of the movable member when the plane and cradle are in a no-lift attitude, said chock member being adapted to fall by gravity upon movement of the plane and cradle into the lift attitude and a support attached to the lower portion of the cradle extending rearwardly from the cradle to support the rear of the fuselage of adapted to rest, a pivot for the cradle having its axis laterally disposed upon the movable member, means for controlling longitudinal movement of the airplane relative to the movable member, wheel guides adapted to prevent lat eral movement of the airplane wheels, a support attached to the lower rear portion of the cradle and extending rearwardly from the cradle and adapted to support the tail of the airplane, and tail piece guides carried by said support adapted to engage a tail supporting member solely so as to prevent lateral motion of the airplane tail;

6. A support for launching an airplane comprising a movable member, a cradle upon the movable member upon which the airplane is adapted to rest, a pivot for the cradle having its axis laterally disposed upon the movable member, movable chock means for engaging the forward portion of the airplane wheels to controllably resist relative forward movement of the airplane until rearward tilting of the cradle has occurred, fixed chock means for continuously engaging the rear portion of the airplane wheels, wheel guides adapted to prevent lateral movement of the airplane wheels, and a support attached to the lower rear portion of the cradle and extending rearwardly'from the cradle and adapted to support the tail of the airplane, said rearward support having fixed chocks to'prevent lateral movement of the tail relative to said support.

7. In a launching device for airplanes with wheels, a movable member, a cradle pivoted to the wheels pivoted to the cradle, a rear chock member aflixed to the cradle, a portion of said front chock member being adapted to contact the upper surface of the movable member so as to resist forward movement of the wheels when 5:

the airplaneand cradle are in a no-lift attitude and said chock member being free from said con tact with said upper surface upon movement of the airplane and cradle into the lift attitude,

whereby the front chock member can pivot fors ward to a position presenting its resisting surface substantially flush with the top surface of the cradle, means carried by the cradle to prevent said forward pivoting beyond said flush position.

REUBEN H. FLEET, WILLIAM B. WHEATLEY. ISAAC M. LADDON. 

